Prison services are being continuously challenged by society to deliver a complex mission: implement judicial sanctions, keeping society safe of harmful individuals, while preparing inmates return / release with resources that work to prevent recidivism on criminal behaviour. Prison staff, not only educators (social workers, psychologists, etc..), are challenged to comply with this complex mission, but only a minority have specific qualifications in educational and social sciences. Prison personnel consist in its majority of prison guards (officers), which have mainly surveillance responsibilities, and administrative staff placed at operational sections. Normally, these staff groups did not attended in specific transversal skills training courses. The absence of specific training actions has an impact in the introduction of innovative educational practices and actions, due to, among other reasons: new learning and teaching methods knowledge; difficulties in presenting and participate effectively in implementing; the need to develop more communication to present innovative proposals. We must understand that guards and administrative staff are central in the system, among other reasons; they interact with inmates on a daily basis and can provide critical inputs to their daily life in custody. So developing transversal skills can tackle inefficiencies and increase the number of innovative opportunities lost in the VET actions preparation and implementation processes. This project gathers Universities, training organizations, companies and prison services organizations, aiming to develop work-based joint curricula - to be delivered in a blended learning format using ICT, intensive transnational short-term training courses on transversal skills, namely: innovation and entrepreneurship, communication, ICT and teamwork. Integrated in the courses trainees, in “local teams”, will have to create pilot actions targeting inmates VET participation, supported by knowledge exchange with ICT platforms, community of practices/knowledge, study visits and other events, etc… These training courses are aligned with Declaration of Bruges, Prison organizations and EU recommendations for adult education. The project focus on delivering value integrated in training courses throughout the implementation of work-based sessions. Trainees can verify the added value of participanting in training actions directly in their work context. Program goals alignment: • develop new, innovative and multidisciplinary approaches to prison staff teaching and learning; • stimulate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills of prison system education teaching staff, guards (officers) and administrative staff; • facilitate the exchange, flow and co-creation of knowledge trough a work-based joint curricula, piloting, conjoint training sessions and other activities Project goals will focus on achieving: 1. Create 3 joint curricula and training programs: work-based VET training courses to develop innovation, entrepreneurship, communication, ICT and teamwork competencies in prison staff; 2. Train 144 prison staff in innovation, entrepreneurship, communication, team work and ICT to develop and implement innovative education actions inmates, with transnational short-term trainings (1 for each training) 3. Develop, improve and pilot new education actions for 160 inmates 4. Promotion of VET innovation in prisons through 4 seminars (3 national and 1 international) and engagement of experts and key stakeholders in 8 validation workshops 5. Delivering 12 outputs, 10 centered directly to VET innovation in prison, 1 to ensure dissemination and exploitation strategy efficacy and 1 to assure outputs quality and transferability Other objectives are foreseen to be pursue, but the mission is to improve prison VET actions for inmates. IDECOM believes better prepared and motivated staff can make prisons a gateway to a second opportunity in society.